BAND ROBBED

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25345, 29 October 1945, Page 4

BAND ROBBED

NEW ZEALAND AIRMEN ALL INSTRUMENTS TAKEN RECOVERY INTACT EATER (Kecd. 6.30 p.m.) SYDNEY, Oct. 28 A lorry containing instruments valued at £3OOO, the property of the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band, was driven away from College Street, City, last night by thieves. The lorry was parked near the An/.ac buffet, and during the temporary absence of the driver two men were seen to enter it and drive away. Wireless patrol cars and all police were immediately put on the alert for the stolen lorry. The lorry, with the instruments and 200 scores of music belonging to the band, was found intact today at I,'abrainatta, about 20 miles from Sydney. A performance which the band was to hare given at Hondi today had to be cancelled, but the Sydnev Police, Rand and a number ol other local bands had offered to lend their instruments and music to the New Zealanders so that their final performance at the Sydney Town Hall tonight would be fulfilled. However, as the instruments and music were intact, the New Zealanders were able to give the performance with their own equipment. The band was to have given an openair performance at Rushcutters Bay Park last night, but it was cancelled because of rain. The hand has visited more than oO towns in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales in support of the Fourth Victory Loan,

In the course of its Australian tour the R.N.Z.A.F. Band has travelled 3600 miles and raised £160.000 in five weeks. The visit was undertaken at. the invitation of the Australian Government. A complaint was received that the tour was altogether too strenuous, and the Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, promised to look into it. The band is a very strong one numerically, numbering about 50, compared with the normal strength of a military hand of about 35. The estimate of about £3OOO as the value of its instruments is confirmed by bandsmen in Auckland. They were purchased by the National Patriotic Fund Board, and are not a complete set in the sense of being all by one maker. Some of the instruments are the private property of individual bandsmen.